John Yancey, director of Admissions, and Jim Owen, director of the One-Stop Student Services Center, believe fervently in the adage, you never get a second chance to make a first impression. This is one of the primary reasons both are anxiously anticipating their offices' moves in a couple of weeks to UNF Hall.

"First impressions are everything and being able to welcome prospective students and visitors to our campus in this new space will really make a great first impression," Yancey said from his current office on the first floor of Founders Hall, Building 2. "This can not only increase enrollment, but also allow us to recruit the caliber of student we are seeking."

Admissions' new space on the first floor of UNF Hall will include the UNF Visitor's Center, which will house the UNF Swoop Squad. This group conducts campus tours and also speaks to prospective students and their parents about academic programs and student life at UNF. The new space will also have a reception area and a presentation room, which can accommodate large groups of students. Yancey estimates there will be about 40 percent more space in the new area.

"In a world where first impressions are critical, we want parents to say: 'Wow, this is a nice place. I feel comfortable leaving my son or daughter. I get a feeling UNF is the right place for them.'"

The first row of parking spaces closest to UNF Hall will become 20-minute spaces for students, or vendors, who are dropping paperwork and other items off at Admissions.

Campus tours conducted by Admissions will begin at UNF Hall and loop around the main campus on an Osprey Connector Shuttle chartered for use by Admissions. The person conducting the tour will point out and discuss various buildings on campus. The Osprey Connector Shuttle will stop at Osprey Fountains, where the walking tour will begin. Walking tours of campus will end at the new Student Union.

Owen, whose One-Stop offices will be near Admissions in UNF Hall, concurs wholeheartedly with Yancey's assessment of the impending move. "I'm excited about the move to UNF Hall. And while I'll miss being in the center of campus and seeing all the students in the courtyard all the time, having an opportunity to design new space specifically for our function on campus is great," Owen said.

The One-Stop Student Services Center currently averages 200 walk-in visitors a day, Owen said. Owen admitted the move from the campus core might be a problem for some students. "Being completely candid, it will be less convenient for some, but for many students, being located immediately off of Kernan Boulevard will ease the transition, and I suspect that many students will consider our new location more convenient than our location in Founders Hall," Owen said.

He said one critical component for making the new location more convenient is parking. UNF Hall will have many more available spaces than core-campus parking lots. "We're trying to add new online functionality and services all the time," Owen said. "Walk-in traffic may decrease a bit, but telephone and e-mail traffic will probably increase." His office currently averages 300 phone calls daily. "We're also looking at implementing some new features - online chat, for example, has been discussed as yet another opportunity to help the students."

The new One-Stop Student Services Center space at UNF Hall will feature such amenities as a spacious lobby with much more seating than is available at the current location. The lobby will also will have two flat-screen televisions, which will show UNF promotional videos, and additional computer kiosks, pay-for-print copying and printing and easy accessibility to the Cashier's Office, which will be just down the hall. There will be greater privacy for students discussing sensitive issues with One-Stop Student Services Center staff because the offices will be enclosed instead of being open like the cubicles in Founders Hall. "The new space at UNF Hall will be great for students," Owen said.

Admissions and the One-Stop Student Services Center will close at 3 p.m. Friday, March 13. Their move to UNF Hall is scheduled for March 16-18, the week of UNF's spring break. Both offices will reopen Thursday, March 19.

Zak Ovadia, director of the Facilities Planning and Construction Office, said both floors of Founders Hall will be completely renovated and ready for new occupants before the end of December. He said the following offices will be on the first floor of Founders Hall: Career Services; Student Conduct; the University Gallery and the Academic Center for Excellence. The following offices, and some general classrooms, will be on the second floor: the Counseling Center; Student Affairs; Women's Center; Parent and Family Programs; Student Ombudsman; Victim's Advocate; and Academic Testing.

Other upcoming campus moves include: - Student Government, components of Student Affairs and the UNF Bookstore into the new Student Union in May - Auxiliary Services into the space formerly occupied by the Bookstore in September - Housing Administration and Residence Life into space vacated by Student Government and Greek Life in the Robinson Center, Building 14, in September - Television studio teaching labs into the Robinson Center, Building 14, 1600 Rooms, in August - Communication Department to the second floor of the Robinson Center, Building 14, in October - College of Education and Human Services into their new building in April - A number of components from the College of Arts and Sciences into Schultz Hall, Building 9, which is currently the space for the College of Education and Human Services, in April - A number of components in Honors Hall, Building 10, into the Student Union and the new College of Education and Human Services, date is yet to be determined - The Coggin College of Business into space vacated by Building 10 components.

It's 10 p.m. and you're just getting ready to leave the third floor of the Thomas G. Carpenter Library when the fire alarm goes off. You know not to use the elevators if there's a possibility of fire, so you head for the stairs, where you discover a man in a wheelchair who also needs to evacuate. He's a big guy - maybe 250 pounds - and he needs help. Almost everyone else has already left the building, which is beginning to fill with smoke. What do you do?

Fortunately, staff members of UNF's Environmental Health and Safety Department have planned for emergencies like that and have equipped campus buildings with evacuation tools you can use. Instead of waiting for fire and rescue to arrive, trying to carry the man down the stairs or leaving him to fend for himself, you now have another option. You can deploy the evacuation chair that's hanging on the wall near the stairwell and quickly and easily lower an individual down the stairs to safety.

As part of the University's emergency preparedness program, all campus buildings with more than two stories are equipped with evacuation chairs -- and soon all buildings with two stories will also have evacuation chairs -- located near stairwells and available for emergencies. The chairs, which are folded up and stored on the wall under vinyl covers, are designed to allow one person to safely move an immobile person down the stairs without lifting. The lightweight chairs provide wheelchair-like mobility up or down stairs. They can be used to move a person who has been injured or has a physical disability that prevents him or her from going up or down the stairs unassisted.

"The evac chairs provide a reasonable accommodation for those with physical disabilities to assist them in emergencies if the elevators are out of service," said Dan Endicott, director of UNF's Environmental Health and Safety Department (EH&S). "They allow you to get the person to another level safely so the building can be evacuated."

Endicott said 15 evacuation chairs have been installed at UNF in two waves, with the original chairs purchased approximately 15 years ago when he was first hired at UNF. "We recently purchased 20 new evac chairs from a company called Stryker, and Physical Facilities has been installing them in campus buildings," he said. "Each year we hope to buy 10 or so new chairs to help supplement and phase out the old chairs. The new chairs are more lightweight, work a lot better and are easier to use than the older chairs."

New evacuation chairs will be located in Founders Hall, the Arts and Sciences Building, Schultz Hall, Robinson Center, Arena, Brooks College of Health Building and its addition, University Center, Fine Arts Center, Hodges Stadium, Science and Engineering Building, Social Sciences Building and Alumni Hall. The existing chairs are located in the Carpenter Library, Mathews Building and Brooks College of Health.

Endicott said as new multi-level campus buildings are constructed, including the Student Union and the new College of Education and Human Services Building, evacuation chairs are being installed and are included as part of the projects' funding. Each chair costs about $2,000.

It's money well spent, according to both Endicott and Garry Clay, assistant director of EH&S. "Last year we had an employee in Building 15 who was recovering from a hip replacement and ended up trapped on the third floor after the elevator broke," Clay said. "Somebody ended up calling rescue, who came to help. That was really the only way she had at that time to get down the stairs. Now we have an evac chair installed in the stairwell there to avoid situations like that."

Although the instructions for using the chairs are clearly posted and are easy to follow, EH&S offers training to faculty and staff interested in learning how to use the evacuation chairs. All building supervisors and UPD officers are encouraged to attend the trainings, but anyone else interested is welcome to attend as well. The trainings include a demonstration and an opportunity to try the evacuation chairs firsthand.

Rocelia Gonzalez, director of UNF's ADA Compliance, was part of a team that tested two brands of evacuation chairs before the decision was made to purchase the Stryker product. She tried both roles: as the chair's immobile rider and as the chair's operator/navigator. She comfortably took several rides down the stairs and also was able to single-handedly lower Endicott down the stairs without a struggle. "I was not nervous," Gonzalez said. "It only needs a little tilting to place it at the 45-degree angle to move it down the stairs. The only thing I had to concentrate on was keeping the chair in the middle so I could navigate the flat surfaces on the next set of stairs. But practice makes it easier to learn the maneuvers."

With this hands-on experience under her belt, Gonzalez stresses the importance of strapping the person's arms and shoulders to the chair because most people impulsively grab the stair rails on the way down, which interferes with the rescue. Endicott was no exception, admitting he tended to hold onto the rails all the way down. In a real emergency he would have been strapped down. "It's an odd sensation being belted into a chair and trusting someone else to get you down the stairs safely, but Rocelia did just fine," Endicott said. While most people can facilitate a person down the stairs in an evacuation chair, taking someone up the stairs proves to be a bit more challenging. "At that point lots of caution is necessary, and it is vital to have at least four individuals to assist in that kind of an endeavor," Gonzalez said. "However, in such an emergency, it may be better to seek the advice of EH&S, firefighters, police or individuals with strong biceps."

The bottom line is that the evacuation chairs are available for use when the need may arise. "In an emergency, I would be grateful that someone cared about me and wanted to save my life," Gonzalez said.

For those interested in learning more about the evacuation chairs and getting some hands-on practice, the next trainings are scheduled for 10 to 11 a.m. and 2 to 3 p.m. Wednesday, March 11, in the Robinson Theater, Building 14, Room 1700. To sign up, contact Clay at gclay@unf.edu or ext. 2007. To view a short video on the evac chairs, visit the manufacturer's Web site at http://www.evacuation.stryker.com/evac_minisite/.

Perhaps the most poignant part of the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life event at UNF later this month will occur early on the first night.

That's when participants will walk on the sidewalk around the Green, which will be lined with luminaries - white bags with lit candles inside. Each luminaria will display the name of a person who died from cancer, currently has cancer or has battled the disease in the past. The names of those who died will be read aloud.

"Everyone walks around the track [sidewalk], lit only by the luminaria," said Katie Chenard, events and reservation coordinator for the Robinson Student Life Center and Relay for Life participant. "It's a pretty amazing sight, seeing the numbers of people affected by cancer represented by the bags. You can't help but be moved, and it's one of the reasons I keep coming back." This will be Chenard's fourth time participating in Relay for Life.

The event begins at 6 p.m. Friday, March 27, on the Green and goes until noon the following day. This is the sixth time UNF has hosted Relay for Life, which takes place throughout the United States and some foreign countries.

The event consists of teams of 10-to-15 people comprised of University staff and students who collect donations prior to the Relay for Life through various fund-raisers. Teams camp out in tents on the Green and commit to having one person on the course for the 18-hour duration of the event. The course is the sidewalk going around the Green.

Relay for Life raises funds for the American Cancer Society and its programs. Chenard said the previous five UNF Relay for Life events raised nearly $88,000. She said this year's goal is $35,000. Recent figures show 23 teams consisting of more than 175 participants registered for this year's Relay for Life. And that's nearly a month before the event. Last year's turnout was between 150 and 200 people, Chenard said.

Chenard, in addition to being a participant, is a member of the committee that organizes the Relay for Life at UNF. She is also the adviser for the University's Colleges Against Cancer, the student club that puts the event on.

Mike Penrod, president of Colleges Against Cancer, is chairman of UNF's Relay for Life. He serves as the volunteer manager for the event. Relay for Life has a special meaning for Penrod. "The majority of my family has had some sort of cancer," Penrod said. "The closest to me was my grandfather. He died last April. Because of him, this event is even more near and dear to my heart. I relay in the hope that one day my contribution will help eliminate cancer as a major health concern."

Joy Magnon, Women's Center office manager, is captain of the eight-member UNF Staff team. "It's for a good cause, and I want to encourage our students and staff to participate in events that provide learning opportunities outside the classroom and office environment," said Magnon, speaking about the importance of participating in Relay for Life. "It's wonderful to feel a part of a large community, and physically you do as much as you can and rely on your team members to help."

Other activities during the Relay for Life include band performances, movies, team games and food booths.

"It's really fun, and a really big event," Chenard said. "I relay because everyone is there for the same reason - to do their part to find a cure. That's pretty powerful."

The Coggin College of Business is in the process of developing the Coggin E-Learning Initiative, a program that could ultimately redesign the college's MBA program to make optimum use of technological advances. The initiative is the brainchild of Dr. Bruce Kavan, chair of the Management Department, and Dr. John McAllister, dean of the Coggin College of Business

"The Coggin College of Business E-Learning Initiative is the first step to dramatically transform our MBA program to leverage technology advances to the fullest," said Dr. Saurabh Gupta, management information systems professor and a designer of the course 13 faculty members are currently taking in order to teach E-Learning Initiative classes.

The course, conducted by the Center for Instruction and Research Technology, includes inputs from nationally reputed trainers from all over the Southeast.

Gupta said the E-Learning Initiative addresses the need for hybrid education, which he defines as having more than 50 percent of the class contact either synchronously (same time, different place) or asynchronously (different time, different place) by logging onto a computer. At least 10 percent of class time is taught traditionally.

Today's generation of students and workers live in what has been termed the "iPod generation," Gupta said. They use personal technology extensively, are good at multitasking, have a wide social network and short, but good, attention span, he said. According to Gupta, education is steeped in tradition in the way it delivers knowledge without using technological tools to enhance the class. The E-Learning Initiative seeks to bridge the gap between traditional learning and today's technology-savvy "iPod generation."

"There are two kinds of e-learning. Learning with computers and learning from the computer, like a video recording," Gupta said. "We plan to use a mix of both at the discretion of the instructor."

Gupta said a student taking one of the eight E-Learning Initiative courses could expect the courses to be more module-based than before. Students will find much of their engagement with other students and the instructor to be more electronic. Gupta added that students would find that the learning experience involves exercises and activities designed to communicate the knowledge of each module.

"One of the core tenants of the program is to create more learning through peer-collaboration or student teams," Gupta said. "This is critical to a good business graduate because almost all of our graduates end up working in teams once they get out. They will also use the technology we have built into the courses."

Courses using the E-Learning Initiative approach will be taught in fall 2009 and spring 2010, Gupta said.

"For the Coggin College of Business, this would be the beginning of a new wave of MBA courses," Gupta said. "We eventually plan to have e-learning components dispersed all over the MBA program."

Faculty members from marketing and logistics, management, accounting and finance and economics and geography are taking part in the E-Learning Initiative.

Geographic Information Systems help us navigate the highways and byways in town and across the country. But now, GIS is being used in a unique way to engage readers online. Dr. Terence W. Cavanaugh, a professor in the College of Education and Human Services, discusses this new trend called book mapping.

What is book mapping?

Book mapping is a reading strategy based on the settings and locations from a story and actually places them onto a map. This strategy mixes reading with other subject areas such as geography, history, science and technology. Where once all you could do was look up that location in an atlas, today anyone using free tools like Google Maps can create their own online digital maps, adding map points, comments, images or quotes.

Why use digital maps in reading activities?

The maps enhance learning from books and assist students and individuals in finding and remembering information from what they read, in part because visual or image information is stored differently from verbal or text information in someone's memory. When people use geographic maps with texts, they end up recalling more text information than if they just used the text alone.

What are the different forms of book mapping?

There are a number of different kinds of maps that readers can make based on their reading such as story maps, effect story maps, comparison maps, reading maps and area reading maps. As an example, in a story, map readers follow the storyline by placing the virtual map pins on the map to show locations in the story, like using the book "Make Way for Ducklings" and following where Mr. and Mrs. Mallard go in Boston.

Anyone who has in interest or love of maps can start creating their own maps with technology. You can even take this further and actually go to places that you read about and take virtual walking tours such as with Google Maps Street View. It's possible to go even further. For example, you can actually visit the town of Forks in Washington and tour the locations for the popular "Twilight" book series, allowing you to see where the characters Bella and Edward live.

Since we're all inundated with multimedia on a daily basis, does book mapping hold our attention better than just reading a traditional book?

It isn't a question of holding our attention better, but allowing us to see the content we're reading in a different way and supporting our understanding. Different individuals have different strengths in learning, and some people are much more visual or spatial than text-based in their learning, so the use of maps provides another way to assist them in their reading.

I've heard a lot about the Florida Teen Book Map for Adolescent Literature. Could you tell me more about this?

This is one project that I have been working on with the Florida Reading Association (www.flreads.org). I created this project to help parents, teachers and librarians find high-interest books, where the story takes place in Florida, that teen readers enjoy. Students enjoy reading and hearing stories about places they know and may be more inclined to read such books. Currently the site lists more than 40 student-submitted books that have settings all over the state and include mysteries, adventure, history, science fiction and fantasy.

Every month, the column "Ask UNF" runs in Inside and The Florida Times-Union, promoting the expertise of UNF faculty and staff.

Brooks College of Health

Athletic Training and Physical Therapy: Dr. Peter Magyari attended the American College of Sports Medicine mid-winter meeting in Indianapolis for members of the Committee on Certification and Registry Boards. He worked with the Exam Development Committee on the four major certification exams in Exercise Science (Personal Trainer; Health Fitness Specialist; Clinical Exercise Specialist; Clinical Exercise Physiologist). He also attended the 2009 Southeast Regional American College of Sports Medicine Conference in Birmingham, AL, where he presented research titled "Geocaching: Utilizing Technology to Increase Physical Activity on Campus." This project was funded with a UNF Environmental Center Seed Grant in which Magyari was a co-primary investigator with Ryan Meyer, former chief ranger with the UNF Wildlife Sanctuary. Magyari also presented a tutorial titled "The Safety and Efficacy of Resistance Exercise Training in Heart Failure Patients" and acted as the chair/moderator for a symposium titled "Strength Capacity and Functional Performance in Older Adults."

Nursing: Drs. Kathy Robinson and Barbara J. Kruger, with Florida Department of Health partners Sharon Surrency and Dr. Phyllis Sloyer, presented a paper on "Linking Practice-based Knowledge with a Nursing Conceptual Framework to Guide Care Coordination Interventions for Families of Children with Special Needs" at the Southern Nursing Research Society in Baltimore, as well as a poster at the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs in Washington, D.C.

Drs. Doreen Radjenovic and Barbara J. Kruger and Judy Comeaux, with community partner Dr. Karen Toker, presented a paper on "Working in a Teachers' World: Caring for Children with Special Needs in School," at the Southern Nursing Research Society in Baltimore.

Drs. Jan Meires and Barb Kruger and Peggy Hoff presented "Portrait of a Home-base Experience: Continuity in Clinical Nursing Student Practice" at the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Essentials for Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice Dec. 4 in San Antonio.

The Mental Health Counseling program, headed by Dr. David Whittinghill and now located in the Brooks College of Health Department of Public Health, recently received accreditation by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) until March 2014.

Coggin College of Business

No submissions this month

College of Arts and Sciences

Biology: Dr. Courtney Hackney, as vice-chair of the Chief of the Corps of Engineers Environmental Advisory Board, presided and presented findings of the board to the chief of engineers in San Francisco.

Communication: Dr. Hyung-Seok Lee and Chang-Hoan Cho of Yonsei University published "The Matching Effect of Brand and Sporting Event Personality: Sponsorship Implication" in the Journal of Sport Management, Vol. 23, No. 1, January 2009.

Dr. Berrin A. Beasley gave a presentation, "Do You Want to Be a Historian? Issues and Opportunities," at the American Journalism Historian Association's Southeast Symposium in Panama City, Fla.

English: Dr. A. Samuel Kimball published "The Linguistic Turn, First-Person Experience, and the Terror of Relativism: 'The Purloined Letter' and the Affective Limits of Ratiocination," in "Approaches to Teaching Poe's Prose and Poetry," edited by Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock and Tony Magistrale (MLA, 2008).

History: Dr. Charles Closmann presented "'Not a Drop to Spare': Sustainable Water Use in 20th Century Hamburg, Germany" at the Evolution, Environment and Responsible Knowledge Conference at the University of Central Florida in Orlando in January.

Dr. David Courtwright participated in the panel "American Alcohol Studies Matures" and chaired and commented on a session, "Identities in Flight: Aviation's Impact on Nation, Gender and Sexuality," at the American Historical Association Meeting in New York City in January.

Dr. Elizabeth Lane Furdell published "The Family Physician: A Victorian Manual for Health" in The International Journal of the Book.

Mathematics & Statistics: Dr. Michelle DeDeo presented "Incorporating Software into College Algebra: Who wins? We All Do, If" at the Joint Math meetings in Washington, D.C.

Music: Dr. Gary Smart, UNF's Terry Professor of Music, was declared winner of the 2009 Robb Musical Trust's Biennial Composers' Competition for his "Song of the Holy Ground" for piano and string quartet. Smart's new work will have a premiere performance at the University of New Mexico in March 2009.

Dr. Ma. Teresa Tuason gave three presentations with UNF graduate students at the National Multicultural Conference and Summit in New Orleans in January. The topics were, "The Internal and Intergenerational Processes that Underlie and Perpetuate Repeat Teen Pregnancy," "Socio-Economic Status: Acculturation and Adjustment Disorder in Immigrants to the United States" and "Journey to Acceptance: Mothers of Lesbian Daughters."

World Languages: Dr. Shira Schwam-Baird published "The Romance Epic Hero, the Mercenary, and the Ottoman Turk Seen through the Lens of Valentin et Orson (1489)" in the annual journal Medievalia et Humanistica New Series, No. 34.

College of Computing, Engineering and Construction

Computing: Dr. Charles Winton was an invited attendee at the 2009 Botball Educational Robotics Symposium held at the University of Oklahoma. Winton gave a presentation at the symposium on upgrading the firmware and Linux kernel for a new controller to be used in future Botball robotic competitions.

Drs. Arturo J. Sanchez-Ruz, Karthikeyan Umapathy, J. Beckham, and Patrick Welsh presented and published their paper, "The Data Interoperability Problem as an Exemplary Case Study in the Development of Software Collaboration Environments" at the CoNGN'08: International Workshop on Collaboration and Cognition in Next Generation Networks held at the 4th Association for Computing Machinery/Special Interest Group on Computer Human Interacction/Create-Net/Institute for Computer Sciences Social-Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering International Conference on Collaborative Computing: Networking, Applications and Worksharing in November. Snchez-Ruz, Umapathy and P. Hayes presented and published their paper titled "Toward Generic, Immersive, and Collaborative Solutions to the Data Interoperability Problem which Target End-Users" at the ONISW 2008: The 2nd International Workshop on Ontologies and Information Systems for the Semantic Web held at ACM 17th Conference on Information and Knowledge Management in October. Snchez-Ruz and Dr. Bart Welling (English Department) presented and published their paper titled "A Domain-Specific Approach to the Development of Ontology-Based Document Assessment Assistants" at DSM 2008: The 8th OOPSLA (object-oriented programming systems, languages and applications) Workshop on Domain-Specific Modeling held at ACM OOPSLA 2008 in October. Sanchez-Ruz also served as a member of the Program Committee for DSM 2008: The 8th OOPSLA Workshop on Domain-Specific Modeling. Additionally, Snchez-Ruz gave an invited presentation, "Domain-Specific Approaches to the Development of Ontology-Based Document Assessment Assistants" at the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Central Florida, in January. He was also invited to be a reviewer for Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Software Special Issue on Domain-Specific Languages and Modeling, which will be published in July/August 2009.

Construction Management: Dr. John Dryden presented and published his paper "Evaluation of D-Cracking Preventive Measures in an Ohio Test Pavement" at the 88th Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting in January.

Engineering: Dr. Adel El Safty and Upul Attanayake presented and published their paper, "The Effectiveness of CFRP Laminates in Strengthening Reinforced Concrete Girders," at the Transportation Research Board Conference in January. El Safty also made arrangements for two guests, Glen Switzer of Gate Concrete Products and Joseph Lord of FPCA Education Foundation, to speak on "Prestressed Concrete and the Big-Beam Competition".

Jean Fryman, Outreach Recruiting, participated in Lee High School's Annual Open House fostering the link between Lee and the UNF School of Engineering. Fryman also coordinated the visit to UNF of approximately 70 robotics students from the Orange Park High School Engineering Academy to participate in a robotics workshop.

Dr. Susan Vasana received her first patent from research conducted at UNF, "Manchester Code Delta Detector," Issued Dec. 23, 2008, PN# 7,469,023. This is Vasana's 10th patent. Vasana and UNF grad student Harold Rivera presented and published their paper "A Digital Filter Model of Cardiovascular System and its PZ Plots in Assistance of the Medical Signal Monitoring and Heart Condition Diagnosis" at the International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies (BIOSTEC) - The First International Workshop on Mobilizing Health Information to Support Healthcare-related Knowledge Work - MobiHealthInf, in January.

Dr. Patrick Welsh gave an outreach talk on igneous rocks and crystals to all the third-graders at San Pablo Elementary School at Jacksonville Beach in January. Welsh also presented an update on Year Two of the Joint UNF-JU River Report to the Lower St. Johns River Technical Advisory Committee in December. Welsh represented UNF at the Southeast Ocean Observing System (SECOORA) Board Meeting in January (Welsh also serves as the current chair of the Science Committee). Welsh and Dr. Dave Lambert presented their research work on rapid Hurricane Damage Assessment and Construction Forensics at the Digital Hurricane Symposium at Louisiana State University in January.

College of Education and Human Services

Academic Advising: Drs. John Kemppainen and Betty Flinchum, along with three other Consortiums for Belize Educational Cooperation (COBEC) members, have been invited to serve as consultants to the University of Belize. Kemppainen will focus his attention on the area of student services.

Childhood Education: Dr. Christine Weber was invited to a work session at the Florida Department of Education to develop a new state plan for gifted students.

In coordination with Dr. Otilia Salmon, who received a grant to work with Saint Clair Evans Academy, Drs. Lunetta Williams and Katrina Hall conducted a professional development workshop "Time Matters: Best Literacy Practices" for teachers in January.

The art-science integrated curriculum and e-books that Dr. Gigi M. David developed for the Art in Public Places program of the Cultural Council are now also available online at http://www.culturalcouncil.org/educators/k-12-art-in-public-places-lesson-plans. David's poem "Words are a Tool" was published in the Spring 2009 Florida Reading Quarterly.

Dean's Office: Dr. Larry G. Daniel is president-elect of the Teacher Education Council of State Colleges and Universities (TECSCU), an organization for the primary administrators of approximately 200 member schools, colleges or departments of education in AASCU (American Association of State Colleges and Universities) institutions. Daniel had previously served as the southeast regional representative to the TECSCU Board.

Dr. Marsha Lupi represented UNF in the special interest group "Women in the Deanship" at the 61st annual American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) conference in Chicago in February. The group is currently beginning a study on mentoring faculty for future leadership roles within colleges of education.

Exceptional Student and Deaf Education: Drs. Sherry Shaw and Len Roberson had an article accepted for publication in the summer volume of American Annals of the Deaf titled "Service Learning: Re-Centering the Deaf Community in Interpreter Education." Shaw also will be presenting the results of her summer research grant project, "Cognitive and Motivational Contributors to Interpreting Student Aptitude" at an international conference, Aptitude for Interpreting: Towards Reliable Admission Testing, in Antwerp, Belgium, May 28-29. The Department of Exceptional Student and Deaf Education is co-sponsoring the conference.

Foundations and Secondary Education: Drs. Marianne and Lehman Barnes presented a session, "Successes and Challenges in a Statewide Action Research Initiative," at the Annual Meeting of the Association of Science Teacher Education (ASTE) in Hartford, Conn., Jan. 10.

What do you hope to accomplish that you have not done yet? Finish my master's, see UNFPD continue to grow and advance as a department and see my sons finish college and get a good start in life. It is my goal to leave UNFPD better as a department than when I came.

Tell us something that would surprise people to know about you. I enjoy the arts such as theatre. After being a cop for 30 years (academy instructor, SWAT, etc.), it surprises people to know that I enjoy things like that.

What is your favorite thing about working at UNF? The atmosphere and the people here. It is a place you enjoy coming to and being a part of. Being a small police department, you can have more of an impact on crime and the people here than you can in a city the size of Jacksonville. Being an alum from here has made UNF a part of me.

If you could choose any other career, what would it be and why? I am in the career I believe I was called to. After retiring from the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, I came to UNF. I guess police work is in my blood. I am now in my 31st year of service.

What would you like to do when you retire? Teach criminal justice. I am currently an adjunct instructor with Florida Community College at Jacksonville and St. Johns River Community College. I have been an instructor for more than 15 years and have always enjoyed teaching and the positive impact you can have on someone's life.

Tell us about your family. Married with three sons, Jonathan, Jeremy and Steven

What is the proudest/happiest moment of your life? The time my sons were born, and the time they became Christians.

What was the best money you ever spent?

The prepaid college fund for my sons was one of the best investments I ever made. I currently have two sons in college, and the money it has saved me has been great.

What is your favorite way to blow an hour? Taking a bike ride or spending time with my sons. Kids grow up fast and they are gone before you know it.

What person has had the greatest impact on your life? The first person would be Jesus and his teachings. After that it would be my father. His drive, morals values and character have been a great example for me and have helped me through some tough times.

What are you most passionate about? My faith, my family and fishing. I have to be careful here; sometimes I push the fishing part too much and get into trouble. My family also gets onto me about the time I spend on work, but what I am is a big part of me.

Who is the most famous person you ever met? Well, during my career I have met a lot of heads of states because of what I do. This includes several presidents and vice presidents from the United States. These include President Bush Sr. and Jr., Vice President Quayle and the heads of state from Canada, the Middle East and other countries.

What is the best thing you ever won? Probably some kitchen gadgets. I'm not much on entering contests.

If you won the lottery, what would do with the money? Depends on the amount, but I would give some to the missions I support and take a long trip to see parts of the country I have not seen in my RV such as the Midwest and the New England area. I enjoy camping.

What's the last book you read?Besides the ones I have to read for graduate school, it was a Christian book called "The Purpose Driven Life."

Tell us something about you that even your friends don't know. I like to sing, I can't carry a tune, but I like to anyway.

What was the first concert you ever attended, and what was the most recent concert you attended? If my memory serves me correctly, it was Leonard Skynard in Orlando a long time ago. I'm a '70s fan and wanted to go to the Eagles concert recently, but was unable to.

Q - From Jack Woodward (Physical Facilities): What can you tell us about the old bell that used to be near Building four years ago, and the old amphitheater that was where the Building 2 vending machines are now located?

A - From Eileen Brady (University Archives, Thomas G. Carpenter Library): The bell, located in the main courtyard between Buildings 1 and 2, Daniel Hall and Founders Hall, was donated to the University in 1974 by Jacksonville architect Taylor Hardwick. He had purchased it from the Marion County Courthouse in Ocala, and planned to install it in a bell tower for the new UNF auditorium, however, his building design was not chosen. For many years, the bell was the visual focus of the courtyard, featured in numerous photographs and fondly remembered by early UNF alumni. As for its disappearance, in late 1985 an Ocala family contacted UNF requesting the bell's return to the Marion County Courthouse. They planned to re-install it in the renovated bell tower. With Mr. Hardwick's approval and an offer by the family to make a donation to the UNF Women's Athletic program, the University agreed to return the bell to Ocala. Then UNF Athletic Director Tom Healy "brokered the deal."

The amphitheater, known also as the Greek Theatre pit, was a small round sunken area outside Building 2 adjacent to the vending machines. The site, with four tiered, cement steps for seating, served as a very small performance area for events such as drama productions, lectures, rallies and guest appearances by prominent figures, outdoor classroom, Black History Week events and other activities. Featured speakers included U.S. Rep. Charles Bennett, with UNF President Thomas Carpenter in attendance, and Laurie Lea Schaefer, Miss America of 1972, at a United Way rally held in October 1973. In 1974, students in Dr. Allen Tilley's drama class acted in various plays in the pit. During a renovation of Building 2, the pit area was filled in and cemented over.

Photographs of the courtyard bell, amphitheater and other UNF-related sites and events are available in University Archives (http://www.unf.edu/library/sc/unarchives.html) in the Carpenter Library.

Q - From Dona Kerlin (School of Nursing, Brooks College of Health): What year was UNF founded, what was the academic make-up of the university that year, and which were the original buildings? Tell us something else interesting about "our beginnings" as a university.

A - Also from Eileen Brady: The UNF story started in 1965, when the Florida Legislature authorized the establishment of a new state university in Jacksonville, largely due to the determined efforts of State Sen. John E. Mathews, Jr. He called Jacksonville "the most educationally starved community of its size in the nation," and was the key individual in the founding of UNF. In 1969, Thomas G. Carpenter, another pivotal figure in UNF's history, was appointed as the University's first president. At the time, site selection was a controversial topic - proponents of an urban campus downtown insisted on easy accessibility and challenged the cost of building a "Mustang University," but the present location proved to be the right choice.

The building boom that followed in the wake of the University tipped the city's demographic and commercial balance in favor of the Southside and the area stretching all the way to the Beaches. Looking at the present development and traffic congestion on the University's periphery, it is hard to visualize the site as it was in 1970 - a wild palmetto forest tucked deep in the pine woods with only a dirt logging road, favored by hunters and poachers, leading into the campus clearing.

The University that began its existence in a single large room of the Florida National Bank Building moved in August 1970 to the Florida Chamber of Commerce Building on Arlington Expressway (now: Seacoast Christian Academy) and in the summer of 1972 to campus for an Oct. 2 opening day. The upper division university (junior, senior and graduate level) was a commuter campus with only four buildings and an enrollment of 2,027 students with an average age of 31, two years older than the average age of the 117 young, eager, energetic faculty.

Three colleges (Arts and Sciences, Education and Business Administration) offered majors in more than 20 fields at the bachelor's degree level, with the master's degree offered in education and business administration.

The original four buildings were clustered around the main courtyard and included an administration building, a library, a combination laboratory and studio building, and a general classroom building. There was no student housing and, until a small cafeteria and the Boathouse opened, the only food to be had on campus came from a few vending machines.

Many students carried a part-time course load because they worked all day and left campus immediately after night classes. Very few student activities were held, with no Student Union available to serve as a focal point.

There were, however, new full-time neighbors to meet. The local residents included deer, snakes, tortoises, alligators in the new man-made lakes, rabbits, a bear family and a Florida panther. Our beginnings may be best remembered by a single faculty member - her identity has not been preserved - who one day descended in a building elevator only to find herself face to face with a Florida panther. She remained motionless, let the doors close and went back to the second floor. The panther vanished, and she lived to tell the experience.

It was a vastly different physical and social environment, compared to the current building spurt of new housing and Student Union, and the plethora of activities to choose from on a daily basis. Now, 40 years after President Carpenter first walked into that room in the bank building downtown with a secretary and two associates, UNF boasts more than 50 buildings and sites completed or under construction, a student body of more than 15,000 and a library with more than one million total holdings (all formats). The vision and hard work of the charter staff and faculty is a UNF of which we can all be proud.

Go to http://www.unf.edu/library/sc/universityarchivescampusconstruction.html to see early campus photographs, which are also available in University Archives in the Carpenter Library.